Two wars: the difference of 40 years

Today: Karen Elliott House on Saudi Arabia

Journal Register faces reckoning

4 Comments

• joe bernstein said:

  The photo shown above is not depicting a war crime-Gen.Loan was executing a North Vietnamese regular army officer who had just committed multiple murders after having infiltrated Saigon in civilian clothes.Under the rules of war that type of activity is punishable by summary execution.The US forces in Europe executed German special ops troops dressed in civvies at the Battle of the Bulge and it was never questioned.The photographer who took the photo was distressed at its misuse by activists alleging a "war crime".Gen.Loan was brave officer who was subsequently wounded and partially paralyzed in the fighting in Saigon.He was Commander of the Vietnamese National Police.He later lived near Washington DC where he ran a pizza parlor until his death.
  April 7, 2008 2:57 AM

• Ian said:

  Joe, my point in using this photo was that we got a lot more graphic imagery out of Vietnam than we have from Iraq.
  April 7, 2008 1:35 PM

• joe bernstein said:

  Now believe it or not Ian,I fully agree with you on this.The coverage of the Iraq and Afghan campaigns has been bowdlerized to spare the public having to deal with the reality-this is shameful.War is a fucked up thing whether justified or adventurist.We don't even show flag-draped coffins,while in the Vietnam War the imagery in print and on television was graphic.It wasn't exaggerated-there is no way to exagerrate war.Serving in Vietnam made me realize a few things which I'll keep to myself- but i didn't become a pacifist at all- I think war is that last resort which you better be ready for the consequences of.The Bush administration treats the public like children on this issue.Maybe that's why there is a big disconnect between most Americans and this war.None of what I said should be construed to mean that we shouldn't be in Afghanistan-we have to;but Iraq is much more difficult to deal with.I don't think we should have gone in,but we are so deeply entrenched that it is no longer even physically possible to withdraw quickly.I wrote my previous entry to point out that General Loan was a man who put his body in the line of fire without a second thought,unlike despicable draft dodging cowards like Cheney,Perle,and Wolfowitz.
  April 7, 2008 4:32 PM

• Ian said:

  Our agreeing on some things might not be as far-fetched as you think.
  April 7, 2008 7:07 PM

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